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Picking a new support help?

kodomas··2 votes·1,591 views

Sorry if this is in the wrong board by the way; I've never posted before. (I did want to put it in general but it wasn't on the list idk). Anyway, I'm a (new ish) support main and originally I mained Nami, now I'm maining Alistar. I want a new supp and I was thinking either Nautilus or Lulu, but I can't decide. I love the tankiness of Alistar, however what I like about him most is the tactical side, like trying to push enemy adcs under turrets and so on. Plus with Nami, I liked the technicality of her gameplay (I don't know if she is actually that difficult but I just mean I had to think about how I played her more than I do Alistar). I don't much like to be a super aggressive support but I do like to have a bit of poke, which is why I'm leaning towards Lulu, as I feel she has more potential for this. I like to help the adc with shields, heals etc., but I like that, with Alistar, I can bodyblock for my adc, and also because of the tankiness it's more forgiving and I die less (however I didn't die much with Nami once I'd been playing her for a bit). Anyone have any suggestions? :)

38 Comments

CarameI Frappe3 votes

Go for Leona, she is as tanky as Alistar but has as many stuns as Jax does.

Seriously, her Q and ultimate are two stuns, which is her bread and butter. The fact she can pop a shield that gives her even more tankiness (and when it disappears, it deals damage) along with her E to dash towards enemies. Leona is the kind of support any ADC would love, and certainly strong enough to survive diving towers without sacrificing herself.

Otherwise i'd say stick with Nami. Her kit is freaken good, especially her bubble. since it stops assassins from killing your ADC.

Vesarixx2 votes

Jax only has 1 stun

CarameI Frappe1 votes

Jax has one stun

Leona has two stuns

"but has as many stuns as Jax does" meaning she does twice the stunning. Only used him as an example because his one stun is devastating lol.

Professor Ward1 votes

{quoted}

Jax has one stun

Leona has two stuns

"but has as many stuns as Jax does" meaning she does twice the stunning. Only used him as an example because his one stun is devastating lol.

technically her e is also a root or a stun im not sure which.

Vesarixx1 votes

it's a root

Vesarixx4 votes

http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/doesnt_make_any_sense_anchorman.gif

Axis the Dragon1 votes

but has as many stuns

You... do know that "has as many" means that they have the same amount, right?

Leo has 2, Jax has 1. If you mean "has the same effective AoE stun as Jax" then yeah, I'd get it, but "as many" is just the wrong term imo =P

CarameI Frappe1 votes

Sorry, yea what you said makes more sense lol

BattleMan692 votes

throw in deadman's for even more cc

kodomas1 votes

{quoted}

Go for Leona, she is as tanky as Alistar but has as many stuns as Jax does.

Seriously, her Q and ultimate are two stuns, which is her bread and butter. The fact she can pop a shield that gives her even more tankiness (and when it disappears, it deals damage) along with her E to dash towards enemies. Leona is the kind of support any ADC would love, and certainly strong enough to survive diving towers without sacrificing herself.

Otherwise i'd say stick with Nami. Her kit is freaken good, especially her bubble. since it stops assassins from killing your ADC.

I did consider Leona, I might try her out, I love diving towers to give the adc a kill attempt. Thanks :)

Nekusen2 votes

Thresh or Blitzclank, both are tanky

Thresh offers lots of combos with lanters and hook

Blitzclank gives you free kills when you land a hook.

BattleMan692 votes

thresh isn't really that good right now, since his bonus armor passive is pretty easily exploitable

kodomas1 votes

{quoted}

Thresh or Blitzclank, both are tanky

Thresh offers lots of combos with lanters and hook

Blitzclank gives you free kills when you land a hook.

Blitzcrank is actually a good suggestion, I feed like the hook would be so fun!

ChewbaccasRear1 votes

If you do pick up Blitz, let me suggest a few personal preference things.

  1. Do not rely or use your W. Its too much of a tell of your intentions, and the slow afterward is super punishable if you fuck up.

  2. Minions are your worst enemy, try to make sure your adc understand that, if you decide to play defensively be sure to keep an eye on the openings between minions and learn your grab width (its different with some of the skins), if you go aggressive ask your adc to clear the waves faster and use the bushes to your advantage.

  3. There is a split second after your grab where they can flash out of your range, but don't freak out and re-click on them, it'll just reset your auto, and if you're doing your Q-E combo then they won't get knocked up (there's a bug they haven't really addressed since forever where if you get grabbed and flash out of range, you will still get knocked up by Blitz's E. Lets hope they never fix it)

  4. The game might suggest Relic Shield, but honestly i just prefer Talisman, mana regen, plus an actual speed boost is just better in my opinion, not to mention i rather be trying to grab the enemy then last hitting minions and getting harassed for it (seriously you can't do crap if you're behind minions as Blitz.)

  5. This is going to sound lame and cheesy but aim with your heart/gut instead of your eyes. Blitz's Q is kind of slow, the width is a bit weird, and its super easy to tell when he is going to shoot it out. So if your heart says aim behind them do it, if it says aim in front do it, and most importantly if you think you can land a blind hook always take the chance (even if its to steal drag or baron, which is easily done if you flash and ult tbh) you will make amazing hooks if you just go for it.

Adjust him to your play style of course. i love Blitz, and this is a few of the things i do when i play him.

Qsario1 votes

{quoted}

Adjust him to your play style of course. i love Blitz, and this is a few of the things i do when i play him.

You forgot where you can start purple side and sometimes get blind grabs on people into the Dragon pit if they hide in certain bushes. Not to mention other invade tricks.

ChewbaccasRear1 votes

Ehhh I've never been an invade fan, but yea its fun when you actually do manage to land the Dragon Pit Grab, but now a days i don't think anyone stands there anymore. (or at least i haven't seen anyone stand there in a while)

BattleMan691 votes

If you want someone who can fill multiple roles, I'd pick lulu. She's super versitile and fits the poke mentality well.

kodomas1 votes

Thanks! :) I think Lulu is a viable choice for me because of her versatility, the stress is too real when I end up with only top lane left and I never play top lane (my sister plays a real good Lulu top too so I have some help there :p)

Qsario1 votes

Janna has been the #1 support for a long time.

Eventually you start having games like this: http://www.replay.gg/search/na/Qsario#2030640822 :)

BattleMan691 votes

the op wanted "technicality" janna doesn't seem to fit the bill

Qsario1 votes

{quoted}

the op wanted "technicality" janna doesn't seem to fit the bill

I don't understand that, Janna is quite technical if you know her techniques, but I do know of bad Jannas who just float around and shield people randomly or waste Q.

You can use Q to cancel dashes, doing this for Tristana/Lee/Le Blanc/Leona/etc. is not very easy unless you read it. You can also cancel the knockback of your own ult, so you can get a Xin-like ult to isolate someone. Combine that with a flash-ult and tell me it's not technical :)

Charged Qs are incredible zoning tools and with proper reads/baits, they're terrifying. Most bad Jannas utterly neglect the zoning potential of Q due to the fact that she's quite vulnerable without it. Knowing when, where and how to use it is quite important and this is really hard to learn because you can easily die for wasting a Q, especially early game.

Being able to use E on reaction takes technical skill. Granted, sometimes you can predict the target without serious thought (when Katarina is going in, obviously she'll aim for the low HP person for her resets), but that's not always the case. And sometimes you want to save the mana if a skillshot isn't going to land, rather than automatically shielding on reaction just because they shot an ability... unless of course you're in a good spot to trade with them after the wiff.

The skill ceiling on Janna is incredibly high. I have thousands of games and I don't think I'm even particularly close to it.

kodomas1 votes

I played Janna a while ago when she was on free rotation, she was actually the first support i ever played I think! She was fun but I feel like it'd take me a long time to become a really good Janna, but your tips help a lot :) She's not really expensive so I'll probably try her soon, so thanks for the tips!! :)

Qsario1 votes

{quoted}

I played Janna a while ago when she was on free rotation, she was actually the first support i ever played I think! She was fun but I feel like it'd take me a long time to become a really good Janna, but your tips help a lot :) She's not really expensive so I'll probably try her soon, so thanks for the tips!! :)

The most important bits are to be able to react with shields. You don't have a lot of lane presence, you usually have to punish their mistakes, though in certain matchups you can at least get a bit of AA damage from level 1-3 or so. Otherwise you have to go with your ADC. Also, if your ADC is bad, it's just going to be a bad game, you can't do that much about it if your ADC is simply outclassed by the other one. Try to peel for your team's most fed person in fights if the ADC is useless.

She is really good though, but she forces you to improve as a player rather than just relying on inherent strength. She's strong, but you do have to work for it. Until you get a decent amount of practice, you probably will feed, too. But learn her escapes and who you can/can't deal with in lane and things will be okay. Get an early W vs blitz/thresh to hide from grabs in minions, don't ever even try to trade with Nami or Soraka, it's worthless, respect Zyra's damage, read Leona Es and have Q ready, if you react late to an engage, nado the ADC, not the support, they've probably already blown their CC anyhow, or better yet, stand ready to Q both. Look at champion.gg for current builds/masteries, they change up with the meta (ignite really does help right now, for example). Punish people when they wiff a skillshot (especially something like Blitz Q... but never ever let him walk up and E you).

You almost always run away from any 1v1 fight unless you can kill with W+AA. Most people can just kill you, especially later on. Try to save everyone you can. If you're low, sometimes you can still get away with hanging out at the back of the fight and covering the team's escape.

Tornado is a great zoning tool. Always remember that you can trigger it early. Use it to deny jungle paths that you don't want an enemy to use or along your own escape route. You can also use it as a "wall", to cover an exit, just remember to trigger it at the right time. I had a very recent game where we chased a 50 HP Lee Sin behind blue buff, purple side. When we went up from river behind the buff, I charged a Q to cut off the exit to river in front of the buff. Naturally he did his ward hops to juke us, but he died to the tornado when I didn't even have vision.

Professor Ward1 votes

Nautilus nuff said

Professor Ward2 votes

{quoted}

Nautilus nuff said

ok not enough said lol, 150k mastery on naut so i know a lil about em.

Nautilus' bread and butter is his auto attack root, which when perfected works as a free, no cooldown, no mana, root. Perfect for peels and stopping peeps for extra damage from the adc.

NAUT IS NOT AS TANKY AS HE SEEMS: Nautilus is just another sona without his shield. (ok maybe not that bad) So remember that before anything else. He looks tankier than he actually is.

NAUT HAS THE MOST RELIABLE CC IN THE GAME: Auto attack- as stated before, free, unmissable Q- Much longer range AND WIDTH then the other hooks and after learning the range will be key to securing caught out kills in the river/jg E- A 50% aoe slow with extremely low cooldowns, this will be your kill-stealer and form of damage/soft cc in lane and in teamfights R- Multi Champ, Point and Click knock up and slow.

Now for his w, one the strongest "true damage" shields there is. Building him full hp will bring this around 1k hp late game,
item 3401 item 3190 And his w can easily shield you for upwards of 2k damage; basically jinx's hp at lvl 18 :D

  • Dont force yourself to be agressive, Engaging with an auto attack and saving the hook can mean the difference in a kill. Nautilus has one of the easiest passive lanes.

  • "Pump faking" his hook (move in like youre going to throw it) but engaging with an auto catches people off-guard easily.

  • Max E, The slow combined with the low cooldown means you will certainly get this skill off 2-3 times in a skirmish.

  • Run Hp/Hp per level runes, The synergy with his w and late game scaling is nothing to forget.

  • Consider running attack damage marks, The synergy with his passive (adds damage per level along with the root) makes for an extremely oppressive early game.

  • Remember to ult back line squishys, Will lead to multiple knock ups and reduced team damage, Players also tend to focus a knocked up champion more often.

  • Use his hook as an escape, it latches to walls while reducing the cooldown by half. Also great for getting through the jungle faster.

good luck "D

kodomas2 votes

Wow, this is super crazy helpful, thank you so much for taking the time to write this :D Your tips make it seem like Nautilus is a lot of fun to play and I'd have to think about his actual gameplay a lot more than I originally thought I would, which makes me like him a lot more. Plus the mobility you mentioned with the multiple uses for his hook seems like it'd be so much fun and so helpful for a roaming support, which I think would be fun and more helpful to a team, plus the shield scaling with those items is just <3. I feel like I will definitely have to try him out, looks like I have a long shopping list and a lot of playing to do, lucky it's nearly the holidays :D Thank you so much :)

Vesarixx1 votes

I would recommend Zyra. She is an aggressive support so she isn't played like the supports you use currently but could help round out your champion pool for that reason, in addition she is a great selection if your team lacks magic damage as when I play her I frequently end up dealing the most damage on my team. I play her with summoner 4 summoner 14 and my build usually looks something like this item 2301 item 3116 item 3020 item 3135 item 3151 item 3285 item 3364 item 2139 . As Zyra you want to try to catch someone in your E, then W>Q>W them and ult if you have it, ignite on top of that will usually result in a kill. For runes you can run either movespeed or AP quints, M.pen reds, health yellows and AP blues, I go 12/18/0 in masteries and take merciless, precision and thunderlords decree.

Even if you prefer utility supports over aggressive supports, it's good to have an aggressive support in your champion pool if you ever need it.

kodomas1 votes

Thanks for all the details, this is really super helpful!! I actually remember laning against a Zyra supp in game once a while ago and her aggressiveness made it really hard to actually deal significant damage to the adc, plus I feel like I'd enjoy her because her gameplay is so different to what I've been playing up until now. I think I'll actually save up for her and try out these tips and this build, thanks again! :D

Sona Ping1 votes

That's kinda up to you; I can't tell you what you would have fun with. ;P I can just talk to you about the champions. They are a bit similar to the champions you play already, mostly Nautilus/Alistar.

Nautilus Nautilus is a tank that's usually found in the jungle. He adapts to support fairly well as he is likely the best bodyguard in League of Legends and brings a metric ton of CC to lock down opposing laners for his partner to lay the damage down on.

Lulu Lulu can also poke well enough and can assist the ADC directly, but she is actually a different kind of support from Nami. You see, Nami is a sustain support who can also get some catches or engage using Bubble and her ultimate. Lulu on the other hand, is a denial support, she does well in canceling out an enemy's advantages and stopping bad trades or enemy engages. She is also very cute.

kodomas1 votes

I do like the initiation of a tank like Nautilus, however I do really like cancelling enemy abilities more I think, and assisting the ADC directly. Plus I must admit I feel really drawn to Lulu because of her cuteness ;-; Thanks for your help! :D

VishStix1 votes

Personalty i think you should try out Soraka She has 2 amazing heals (W&R), poke/self heal (Q) and a silence/root with her (E)

kodomas1 votes

I do really love to heal the adc :p Thanks for your suggestion, considering she's super cheap I'll pick her up and give her a go :)

kodomas1 votes

Out of curiosity, does anyone have any opinions on Maokai as a support? He has roots, wards and a shielding-type ult, would this be viable?

Teeter Dance1 votes

He is iNCREDIBLY mana hungry early. Its doable, but you mana starve really quickly.

Teeter Dance1 votes

BARD. ALWAYS BARD.

Guyy Fieri1 votes

I have played a bunch of Nautilus and Lulu. Granted, I mostly play Lulu in solo lanes but I have played support Lulu too.

It really depends on your play style and it sounds like you enjoy the play style that both bring to the table.

I love Nautilus because the pick potential is so real. If you like roaming the map and trying to set up picks of the jungler or mid laner or just like making solid picks in lane even, he's your guy. Plus, with Titan's Wrath, you become quite tanky, as you can just activate that right as you land a hook and then you stand a great chance of winning the trade.

Lulu is great for team fighting. Between her shields (that buff the auto attacks of whoever they're on), and her ultimate's knockup/shield, it can really turn the tides of a fight. However, Lulu can't really engage on her own and will require your team to do so.

Nautilus can be the sole engage of your team by either landing a hook or getting a good depth charge on a carry.

I don't think you will go wrong but I think the true question you need to ask yourself is if you want to be an engager or someone who sits on backlane waiting for the engage to happen.

Miku Lv991 votes

Use Thresh . The people making the decisions just love him so they keep him at very high tier almost always.

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